Soap holder



'H. W. WILD SOAP HOLDER Jan. 9, 1945.

Filed May 13, 1945 HUI INVENTOR Henry W Wild. BY #EW ATTORNEY PatentedJan. 9, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,367,161 SOAP HOLDER Henry 'W.Wild, Waterbury, Conn.

Application May 13, 1943, Serial No. 486,797

9 Claims.

This invention relates to a soap holder orreceptacle'and particularly toa soap holder for handling soap in the form of a bar or cake.

7 The primary object of this invention is to provide a soap holdingdevice designed to hold a cake of soap by opposing line or relativelynarrow edge contacts whereby an is permitted to circulate around allsides of the soap for purposes of quick drying and hardening the same,thus eliminating undue softening and waste of the soap.

A further object of this invention is to provide posed to the rightofthe holder as best shown in Figs; 2 and 3. An upstanding integral wallI2 is provided along the front edge of the base II and is designed tofunction in the manner of a support fulcrum, wherein its upper edge I3forms a line or relatively narrow edge contact, for engagement with theunderside of a bar of soap I4,

' as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. e

The upper edge of the back portion I is inclined relative to the base II from which projects .a perpendicular wall I of uniform width and asoap receptacle of the above nature in which the soap-supportingopposing line'or edge contacts are arranged in a converging manner indifferent planes for the purpose of evenly supporting a cake of soapduring its reduction in size incidental to consumption, until the samehas reached the minimum size for practical use. The receptacle ispreferably designed to engage the bar of soap adjacent'one end andpermits the major portion of the bar to overhang its lower terminatingin a depending flange I6 also of uniform .width, the lower edge I! ofwhich also provides for a line or relatively narrow edge contact linecontact fulcrum in the manner similar to a cantilever, and thus disposethe soap bar regardless of size in a position to be grasped readily andconvenient to the user. v

A further object is to provide a structure which is capable of beingreadily attached to bath tubs, lavatory bowls, sinks and like devices,and the principle of the invention is such that it readily adapts itselfto be built into any such devices with all the inherent advantagesdesignated above.

The various objects and features of my invention will be fullyunderstood from the following detailed description of a typicalconstruction and application of my invention, throughout whichdescription-reference is made to the accom-' panying drawing, in which:

' in association with a lavatory bowl.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the holder, per se. Fig. 3 is a frontelevational view of the same. Fig. 4 is an end view of the same, and

Fig, 5 is a fragmentary front view showing a slight modification of the,holder.

Referring now to the drawing, wherein for the purpose of illustration isshown the preferred embodiment of this invention, the holder is madefrom a single piece of sheet metal formed to provide a back portion ll].of a generally tapering shape, a base II perpendicular to and extendingoutwardly from the lower edge of said back I0 .and also of'a generallytapering shape, the wider portion of both the base and the back beingdisopposed to the supporting fulcrum edge I3 and against which the uppersurface of the bar of soap engages when assembled into the holder. It isto be noted that the distance that the flange I6 is spaced from the backportion I0 is somewhat less than the minimum distance that the left endof the fulcrum wall I2 is spaced from said back portion ill, such thatthe upper line contact edge I! engaging with any bar of soap, regardlessof size,

will always be closer to the innerend of the bar than the lower fulcrumcontact edge I3 when such bar is disposed within the holder.

Due to the general tapering shape of the back portion I0 and the base IIand their relative arrangement, the fulcrum wall I2 and the flange I6converge generally toward the left side of the holder, with'the fulcrumcontact edge I3 of wall I2 disposed in substantially a horizontal planewhile the cooperating opposed contact edge ll of the flange I6 isdisposed in a vertical plane. The soap, when assembled into the holder,will be fromthe right end thereof and moved to the left preferablysliding along the fulcrum wall edge I3 until the upper surface of thesoap bar contacts or more or less jams against the flange edge I!wherein the soap bar will be embraced on opposite sides only by linecontacts with the greater portion of the soap bar projecting beyond thefulcrum Wall I2, thus making use ofv the force of gravity to maintainthe bar against the flange edge I! without-having it tip into the holderto contact the base with a resulting messy, obnoxious and wastefulcondition. With the [converging arrangement of the edges I3 and I! thebars of soap will be held in a substantially identical manner regardlessof its original size or its gradually diminishing size contingent uponits use.

As a convenient means of supporting the holder device upon or adjacentthe various bathroom or laundry accessories, a pair of spaced rubbersuction cups I8 are secured to the rear wall of the back portion ill ofthe device as by means of eyelet I!) or any suitable attachingfasteners. With the suction cups l8 attached to the back portion ill theintent is to secure the holder device upon any vertical wall surface,and if desired to manufacture the device so as to arrange it upon ahorizontal surface, the suction cups can as easily be attached to thebase ll of the device.

In Fig. is shown a modified construction, which may be employed toadvantage where soap bars of various shapes are to be used, and isidentical in all respects to the preceding form described except thatthe upper flange contact edg'e l'la is in the form of relatively fineteeth or 's'errations throughout its entire length. This typ of edge issuggested particularly for use where soap bars of elongated oval shapeor round ovalshape, as indicated at 20, are to be supported, as it hasbeen determined that soap bars of such shapes are liable to slip andpossibly pivot upon the supporting edge 13 unless means are provided toassure a better gripping action than merely straight contact edgesagainst the relatively small surface of the oval'soap bars that would beengaged. The serrated edge Ila will, of course, assure such a grippingedge and function equally as well upon the rectangular soap bars as theoval bars.

The device-as herein set forth is described as an independent andportable one made of sheet metal, however, it is to be understood thatthe samemay be made of other materials, such as ceramics, plastics,rubberor similar materials, and likewise theprinciple of the device iscapable of the variouslavatory services.

,Fro-mthe above it will be seen that a soap holder, is providedwhichwlll support the soap in a position whereair may circulate around'the bar at all times to assure that it will quickly dry,,.

thereby preventing softening of the soap and consequent loss. In actualpractise it has been observed that, when a bar of soap is assembled intothis l io'lder, there is no drainage that runs ofiinto the'base, butrather the soapbar dries uniformly,v

r the entire area except for the vice'and moved to the left, itis'within'the purview I "of this inventionto "makeit also serve as aleft- 'liandedholder, by merely'liaving the line contacts converg'e'tothe right rather "than'to the "left. In

, 'thi'smanner two'suppor'ts'could be supplied to be attached to thewall either Side of 'a lavatory bowl or incorporated into variouslavatory facilities to 'give proper-balance and pleasing appearance.

, Having described two forms and applications of the invention, I do notwish tobe limited or restricted to the specific forms and applicationsherein set forth,'but wish to reserve any modifications or variationsthat "appear to thoseskilled in the art or fall within thesc'op'e'ofthefollowin claims.

I claim:

1. A soap holder formed up from a single sheet of material andcomprising a back having a base extending from the lower edge thereofand terminating in an upstanding flanged portion arranged at an angle tosaid back, and the upper edge of said back formed into an invertedchannel section with a flanged portion uniformly spaced from said backand arranged at an angle relative to said base, the two flanged portionsgenerally converging at one end of said holder.

2. A soap holder as defined by claim 1 wherein 7 means is provided fordetachably securing said of being built in as a fixture or as anintegral part 3 holder to a fiat supporting surface.

x 3. A soap holder as defined by claim 1 wherein a pair of suction cupsare secured to the rear face of said back.

4. A soap holder comprising a general taperin shaped support back, abase projecting from the lower edge of said back also of generaltapering shape and terminating in an upstanding flange or lower support,the tapering back and base converging at a common end, and the upperedge of said back having aprojecting portion terminating in a dependingflange or upper support uniformly spaced from said'back.

5. A soap holder as de'fined'by claim 4 wherein the supports arearranged in'age'nerally converging manner at a common'end with thatportion of the lower support closest to the back'being spaced a distancegreater thanfthe upper support.

6. A soap holder comprising a mounting structure presenting a back wall,"a pair of opposed upper and lower supporting members having soapengaging terminal edges, means supporting the uppermember in spacedrelation and parallel to the back wall, means supporting the lowermember in spaced relation and biased to the back wall and forwardly ofthe'upper member, the soap engaging edge ofthe upper member beinginclined relative to the lower support'means, and the up I per andlowersoap engaging edgesmutually converging toward'a common end.

'7. A soap holder as "defined by claim '6 wherein one of the terminaledges of the'support members is provided withserrations or teeth-likeprojec- 'tions.

8. A soap holder asde'finedby claim 6 wherein the terminal edge of theupper-support member is provided with serrations or teeth-likeprojections.

9. A soap holdercomprising 'amounting structure having opposedforwardly"projecting portions terminating in laterally {disposed supportmembers, one member'disposed forwardly of and parallel to said'mountingstructure, and the other member disposed forwardly of said mountingstructure and also 'said'first named memberand biased relative to saidmounting structure, said members having soap engaging terminal edgesmutually converging toward a common end.

W. WILD.

